2012 Week 10

User games due by Saturday 12/25 10pm PST CPU games due by Friday 12/24 10pm PSTThese are not hard and fast deadlines with the holiday coming. Lets do our best but if we have to drag it out until Monday night, thats fine. Thanks guys.

Welcome to Week 10!
Remember to visit dynasty.easports.com to publish your own stories.

=============== #17 Arizona Wildcats (6-2) ===============
Last week, Arizona won 35-17 against TCU (4-3).
This week, the Wildcats travel to Los Angeles to face the #8 USC Trojans (5-1).
In recruiting news, the following Arizona targets have announced their decisions:
- (***) DT Matthew Pope has committed to Arizona

=============== Illinois Fighting Illini (5-3) ===============
Last week the Fighting Illini were idle.
This week, the Fighting Illini travel to East Lansing to face the Michigan State Spartans (4-4).
In recruiting news, the following Illinois targets have announced their decisions:
- (***) WR Kyle Perry has committed to Illinois
- (***) TE Joel Davis has committed to Illinois
- (***) CB E.J. Phillips has committed to Illinois
- (***) LT Dwayne Horne has committed to Illinois

=============== Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-5) ===============
Last week, Nebraska won 48-10 against Missouri (3-5).
This week, the Cornhuskers travel to Ames to face the Iowa State Cyclones (6-3).
In recruiting news, the following Nebraska targets have announced their decisions:
- (****) RG Mark Matthews has committed to Wisconsin
- (****) CB Kennard Brewer has committed to Iowa
- (****) WR Beau Arnold has committed to Penn State
- (***) HB Clint McCarty has committed to Colorado State

=============== #1 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0) ===============
Last week, Ohio State won 48-20 against Indiana (2-5).
This week, the Buckeyes travel to Evanston to face the Northwestern Wildcats (2-5).

=============== #19 Oregon Ducks (4-4) ===============
Last week the Ducks were idle.This week, the Ducks travel to Pasadena to face the #16 UCLA Bruins (6-2).
In recruiting news, the following Oregon targets have announced their decisions:
- (****) WR Kevin Walters has committed to Oregon

=============== Oregon State Beavers (5-2) ===============
Last week, Oregon State won 28-16 against Cal (3-4).
This week, the Beavers will host #21 Stanford (5-3).
In recruiting news, the following Oregon State targets have announced their decisions:
- (***) HB Tyrone Washington has committed to Oregon State

=============== #2 Texas Longhorns (8-0) ===============
Last week, Texas won 57-7 against Colorado (2-7).
This week, the Longhorns will host Oklahoma State (4-4).

=============== #16 UCLA Bruins (6-2) ===============
Last week, UCLA won 23-20 against Washington (4-4).This week, the Bruins will host #19 Oregon (4-4).
In recruiting news, the following UCLA targets have announced their decisions:
- (****) QB Steve Green has committed to UCLA

=============== #5 Wisconsin Badgers (7-1) ===============
Last week, Wisconsin won 41-7 against Northwestern (2-5).
This week, the Badgers travel to West Lafayette to face the Purdue Boilermakers (4-4).
In recruiting news, the following Wisconsin targets have announced their decisions:
- (****) SS Derrick Edwards has committed to Michigan
- (***) FS Nick Cox has committed to Wisconsin
- (****) RG Mark Matthews has committed to Wisconsin
- (****) WR Beau Arnold has committed to Penn State
- (*****) DT Randy Fowlkes has committed to Wisconsin

In a game that had everything, the Illini were able to come up with one more big play than Michigan State. The action started fast and furious for the Spartans in the first quarter, driving down the field in just over 1 minute to take an early 7-0 lead. illinois would fumble the ensuing kickoff, and MSU had the ball at the 11. On the next play, Baker would punch in his second TD of the quarter, and Sparty was up 14-0 just under 90 seconds in.

Illinois would answer with a double dose of rushing power of their own. Justin Green and Tate Forcier would rush the ball back down the field for the men in white, with Forcier getting the score on a 24 yard carry.

After forcing Michigan State to punt, Illinois would take over deep in their own territory. On the first play of the series, Forcier would be hit attempting to throw, and the errant pass would find its way to a man in a green shirt and helmet. Norman would take the pick 26 yards and make the score 21-7 after one.

Illinois would answer with the nation's leading rusher: Justin Green. After a four minute drive, he was able to punch in his first score of the game and cut the deficit to 7 points. But with the score 21-17 and under a minute to go, Boisture would connect with Langford for 51 yards and give Sparty an 11 point lead going into the break.

The third quarter would see a couple of time consuming drives, but nothing really of note. Michigan State would enter the fourth quarter with a 35-20 lead. It was here that the fireworks would begin.

Now, for a moment I want to take you aside There have been plenty of plays over 20 yards in this game already, and more than enough offense to constitute a game. Now, a quick glance up to the top of the article would make you shudder at the thought of what's to come.

With Illinois down 15 and with under five minutes to go, Forcier would start firing lasers over the middle of the field. Green would finish off the quick possession with a two yard run to make it 35-26. Illinois chose to go for two, knowing that they would need one eventually and that this would allow them to know what they needed on upcoming possessions. It sounds good, but the conversion failed and the score remained 35-26. Illinois would force a quick stop on defense, and on the first play of their next possession Forcier would find Whitehead over the middle for 64 yards and the score. The PAT made it 35-33, so Illinois still needed a stop. They were able to get just that with only 55 seconds remaining, forcing Michigan State to kick a 43 yard field goal. The kick squeezed inside the right upright, and the score was now 38-33. Forcier needed some magic on their last drive. That magic happened when Forcier hit Whitehead on a post pattern, and he took it 52 yards for a touchdown. The Illini had their first lead of the ball game, 39-38. Illinois would again try for a 2 point conversion, hoping that a Michigan State field goal would only tie the game rather than win it. This too, would fail.

With 36 seconds remaining and all three of their timeouts, Boisture took the field for Michigan State and it was his turn to search for some magic. Instead, all he found was white shirts with orange hats. His first dropback was a sack, his second an incompletion. Then, on third down, boisture was hit again, this time losing the football. Lloyd picked it up for Illinois and ran it back 37 yards for an Illini touchdown - giving the Fighting Illini a 46-38 lead. With only 12 seconds left, it seemed as though hope was lost for Michigan State. The squib kick gave them good field position, but they needed a touchdown and the two point conversion. Boisture dropped back, and threw a pass well over his receiver's head. With 4 seconds remaining, it was Hail Mary time. Boisture dropped back, avoided pressure, and connected with Mumphery at the three yard line. Mumphery then spun out of a tackle and into the endzone for the improbable MSU touchdown. But their was still tension in the air, because with the clock at 0:00, MSU would either get the two or get off the field. The pitch to the right to Baker worked to perfection, and he was in. The game was tied at 46, and there would be OT in East Lansing.

Michigan State had the ball first in overtime, and would run Baker again. It only took 2 plays, and he was in for a score. Now 53-46, it was Illinois' turn. Their response to Baker: Tate Forcier. The redshirt junior qb would hit Lankford on a slant route from ten yards out, and effectively knot the game up at 53. There would be a second overtime in East Lansing.

Illinois had the ball first in the second OT period, and they took a similar approach to what MSU did in the first. A couple of Justin Green runs against a tired front 7 led to another Illini touchdown. For Green, this was his third of the game. For Illinois, it meant that Michigan State would need a touchdown to tie it up. Again, MSU turned to Baker. This time, it took him three plays, and he was in for his 4th score of the game. This one came from 10 yards out. With the score tied at 60, the teams prepared for a 3rd overtime up in the U.P..

Michigan State took their turn with the ball, and Coach D'Antonio tried throwing Illinois off with a passing attack. This would fail, and after a Boisture sack on third down MSU was forced to bring their kicker on the field for a 46 yard attempt. The kick was good, but the life was already sucked out of the stadium. The fans knew what was coming. Justin Green took the counter off the left tackle, and he went untouched for 25 yards and the game winning score. Illinois celebrated on the field after an intense, jaw-dropping, offensive exhibition. The defense joined in the glee, but one can only imagine that with #6 Michigan on the horizon that they will not be celebrating in practice.

Goodwin missed the first quarter after hurting himself on his first punt return, but more than made up for in the 2nd quarter. Goodwin had 2 rushes over 50 yards, 100 yards recieving, and 3 TD all in the second quarter. The lornhorn offense tried to move the offensive focus off Goodwin, which may have been the cause of the longhorns offensive struggles in the second half. To the disappointment of the Longhorns bench players, the Cowboys refused to be blown out and the backups did not get any playing time.

Goodwin finished with 250 yards of offense and 3 TD on 14 touches. HB Newton managed his first 100 yard game of the year. QB Wood managed 350 yards and 3 TD, but only completed 56 percent of his pass and threw 2 INTs. With the number of hits wood is taking, one wonders if 3rd string RS Freshman Bryson Lewis might be starting before the season is through.​

Oregon State took another step towards gaining respectablity by defeating the #21 Cardinal 21-14. This was a defensive battle. In the first half both teams were only able to score a touchdown. The Beavers touchdown came in the last minute of the first half. In the second half Stanford took the lead on a 2 yard run by RB Stephon Taylor. The Beavers would respond very quickly scoring on a 17 yard touchdown to Kevin Cummings from QB Ryan Katz. In the 4th the defensive battle continued, but Katz stood strong hitting TE Tyler Perry for a 42 yard touchdown pass. I will be uploading the video of this play, but it was unbelievable. Katz stood tall throwing a picture perfect pass as he was drilled by two Stanford defenders. The game ended when DB Josh LaGrone intercepted Josh Nunes with 30 seconds to go in the game. Up next Washington State

The Aggies won the war of attrition on Thursday night, but lost a battle of sorts when on his only carry of the game, on a fly sweep, Uzoma Nwachukwu's senior season came to a thunderous end as he was jumped on and pounced to the ground by a big D-lineman. The speedy and reliable receiver broke his tibia on the play, and will see no more college action in his career here at Texas A&M. "What a shame that is for our program, but more so for Zoma" said fellow sr qb Tommy Dorman. "He was just starting to become an elite wr in the Big 12 and our mr. everything. You saw the effect it had on the offense. Big plays were a lot tougher today after that happened".

While the O struggled to move in key situations, the Defense rose to the enormous challenge of taking on a Sooners team that came into the game in the top 10 of multiple offensive categories, namely turnover ratio and scoring per game. Coach Davis on the D effort: "Man alive, if you hadn't heard anything about this team and you just watched them tonight, you wouldn't have any idea that they straight up dominate teams on offense. What an effort today by our boys. They worked for everything. The Clay kid is awesome, and we held him down most of the game. That one run showed everything he's about, and we just hung in there for the most part. And you add the 5 turnovers....wait. Let me repeat that! 5 turnovers against a team that was like seventh or something in the category, in the country. Wow. And absolutely zero redzone trips! Awesome! My boys earned every bit of respect today. No doubts about it."

As excited as the coach was for that effort, he failed to mention that his offense only turned over the rock 1 time itself. And in this game, the field position from that mistake free football made all the difference. 4 or 5 times the Sooners started inside their own 10 yard line and the most crucial possession was the final one, in which the Sooners started at their own 3, after a beautiful punt by standout Punter Ryan Epperson, and a holding penalty on the gunner. And it ended with star LB Kyle Mangan forcing his second fumble of the day, banging the football loose from qb Drew Allen, who finished his awful day by personally turning the ball over each of the 5 times, including 3 ints, which was 1 more than he had thrown all season.

The Aggies come back with 2 Texas showdowns to finish the year, including Texas Tech, then the Longhorns. Without Nwachukwu, they will have to be even more creative, as he was the special play guy. So it's a question of wrinkles now.

Alright boys, we'll be advancing tomorrow night after dakota and I play. The game should be done by 9:30pm PST or so. Sorry for the long advance but Xmas and all, the game just couldnt get scheduled. We'll get back to our regular pace after this. So hang tight.

This discussion takes me back to law school, and the specific class of Business Associations. In this class my professor discussed the concept of duty of loyalty, and what hat you are wearing when a person does something either for against the corporation they owe this duty of loyalty towards. In my fan hat, I bleed crimson, but in this dynasty my hat is orange and black because they write me my paycheck. So far in this dynasty the polls have been unkind to the Beavers, thus I feel I must go above and beyond what I have done so far to earn the love the Beavers rightly deserve. This game might be unpleasant, but a serious can whoop ass may be opened when this game is played.

I'm seriously becoming attached to another team other than the Cougs for the first time in forever! But the thing is I still don't like the real life Texas A&M Aggies haha. I can't become a fan. I still go for them against the Horns and Sooners, but only cause I've always hated those schools. However I bleed maroon and white in my front room when this game is on. Right now my brother doesn't have an xbox either, so I can't play my WSU dynasty, so I am all in on the Aggies, and the Lakers in 2k11 (I'm actually a fan of them though )